CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Correa emphasizes that the Cuban Five are political prisoners

ECUADOR, June 15, 2010. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has criticized the imprisonment of the five Cubans arrested for preventing terrorist attacks in Miami as an attack on their human rights.

In his regular Saturday broadcast to the population – this time from Pedro Maldonado in Pichincha province – Correa expressed his hope that this injustice could be reversed and the five anti-terrorist fighters could return home to Cuba.

"During the changing of the presidential guard ceremony, we were accompanied by a special guest, Irma Schewerert, a Cuban woman and mother of one of the Cuban heroes, who have been imprisoned in the United States for more than 11 years now," he stated.

"In real terms, this is an attack on human rights and hopefully this situation will soon be reverted and these Cuban prisoners, political, yes! these ones really are political prisoners, will be able to return to their native Cuba to be reunited with their families," affirmed the Ecuadorian leader.

"The Five were accused of espionage when what they were doing was preventing acts of sabotage mounted by a particular section of the ultra-right Cuban community in Miami. And instead of being congratulated for it, they were subjected to a questionable trial," he noted. (PL)

Translated by Granma International